Crush
by MakaylaBreanne
Summary: A walk through of when the Gaang each find out about Toph's crush on Sokka.


**Hello fellow Avatar/Tokka fans! Welcome to my first ever fanfic for this fandom. Basically, this is just a walk through of when everyone found out about Toph's crush on Sokka. If I get enough positive feed back I might do a sequel. This is more of a trial run than anything. So, I'll shut up now and let you sit back, relax, and read. Oh and if you have any questions, please see the author's note at the end. **

**Please feel free to review, favorite, and follow. No flames please, but constructive criticism is appreciated. **

**I do not own Avatar.**

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><p><strong>Earth Kingdom, roughly four months before Sozin's Comet<strong>

Toph knew it had been a bad idea, but she just couldn't help herself. She was drowning—dying even—and just before she went under, she'd heard him call out to her. So when she felt someone pull her up, naturally she thought it was him; and before she could even think to stop herself, she'd kissed him and gushed over him like the love sick little girl she was. Then her savior spoke and Toph's happy cloud evaporated in an instant. It was Suki who had saved her, not Sokka.

After Suki refused to just go ahead and let her drown, they made their way back to shore. It was silent, and for the first time in her life, Toph dreaded being on land. Once they were on land, her secret was out and she could only imagine what Sokka's reaction would be. The thought brought a grimace to her flushed face. The worst part was that she couldn't even be mad at her competition. She could be mad at Sokka for failing her and letting Suki get to her first, but that still didn't change the fact that Toph was the one who let her secret slip. Suki did nothing but save her.

What made it all even worse was that Toph actually respected her somewhat. Even though she barely knew her, she could tell that she was a strong person who held her own, and she had to respect that she wasn't going gaga over Sokka's constant attention. Toph knew Suki liked him, and she knew he had some kind of something for her, and Toph had already accepted defeat. Now, though, it seemed as if defeat would be rubbed in her face a bit more efficiently. Toph wouldn't blame Suki if she told, because she knew if the situation was reversed, she would tell Sokka too.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, they finally made it back to shore. As soon as her feet touched the earth, Toph could feel Sokka's obsessive pacing and frantic heartbeat. It stopped once he spotted them.

"Toph! Are you okay?" he asked, placing a warm hand on her shoulder.

"Of course, I'm fine," she snapped, shaking the hand off and ducking her head to hide the blush in her cheeks.

"Good. Now then... Suki! What were you thinking? I could have saved her! You didn't need to put yourself in danger," he yelled.

Toph stuck her tongue out in disgust, and attempted to roll her eyes.

"Sokka, really, I'm not made of glass you know," Suki sighed.

Suddenly Toph stiffened up and bit her lip nervously, knowing what would come next.

"Sorry...", Sokka muttered, not sounding sorry at all, "Hey, wait a second. You took a while getting back here. Did something happen?"

Toph cringed and waited for the laughter and rejection, but it never came.

"Nope, nothing happened," Suki replied, a smile in her voice.

"Okay then," Sokka said.

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><p>A little bit later, once they were back on the road, Toph couldn't stop thinking about what Suki did. It only made Toph respect her more, and she hated it. She desperately wanted to hate her, but she just couldn't. The girl was too damn likeable.<p>

"Hey Toph, can we talk?" Suki asked, catching Toph off guard.

They'd been walking next to each other for the last hour in silence.

"Uh sure..." she replied after double checking to make sure everyone was far enough ahead to be out of earshot.

"So, you have a crush on Sokka huh?" Suki began, deciding just to get to the point.

"Yeah..." Toph mumbled quietly, hating the warmth that flowed into her cheeks.

It was silent for another minute.

"Thanks for not telling him about what happened," Toph finally said, unable to take the uncomfortable silence.

"I'll back off," Suki suddenly said.

"Uh...what?"

"I'll back off, if you want me too. I plan on leaving after we get through and I don't know when I'll be back. It looks like you'll be sticking around for awhile."

"I—er..."

"He cares for you. You should have seen how panicked he was when you fell in. He was about to go save you, but I guess I just kind of wanted to prove myself to him or something. Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I'm not sure exactly what his feelings towards you are, but something's there."

"Suki, we both know it's hopeless. I'm just a little girl to him, or worse, one of the guys. He's my best friend, and I want him to be happy. I know he's not going to be with me. So, you have my blessing," Toph sighed, blinking back tears.

"Are you sure?"

"If I wasn't, I would have told you to hit the road as soon as you offered," Toph grinned, despite how lousy she felt.

"Thanks Toph. If things go well, I promise I'll take care of him."

"Good. Someone has to make sure he doesn't trip over his own feet," they both snorted at the joke.

"And Toph, I won't tell anyone. About any of this," Suki said, placing a gentle hand on Toph's shoulder.

She didn't shake it off this time, and they walked on it silence. Toph was sad now, but she knew it wouldn't last long. She was Toph Bei Fong. She was an earthbender. She could easily get over a silly crush.

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><p><strong>Fire Nation, about a month until Sozin's Comet<strong>

"I miss Sokka," Toph sighed, bored out of her mind.

"Oh! I've got one! If you miss him so much, why don't you marry him?" Katara cracked.

Toph could only turn over in embarrassment as the thought entertained her mind. It had been about three or four months since her talk with Suki and she had not gotten over her crush. Suki was gone now, and if anything her feelings had only grown stronger. It didn't help any that he was currently away as well. It was boring without him obsessing over schedules or cracking some sort of joke, and Katara was not a suitable replacement.

What made his absence worse was that now her mind was free to ponder on the possibilities and daydream shamelessly. It really wasn't healthy and she knew it, but it still didn't stop her.

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><p>"Sokka's coming!" Toph cried in excitement, feeling his vibrations coming towards them.<p>

Aang and Katara bolted up in happiness as they too heard his foot steps drawing nearer.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" he asked.

She couldn't help herself. Along with the other two, she threw herself against him in a group hug.

"Sokka!"

"You're back!"

"We missed you so much!"

"Say something funny!" Aang demanded.

"Funny how?" Katara and Aang dissolved into laughter, as Toph just listened in satisfaction, reveling in his return.

"What's their deal?" Sokka asked her.

"I don't know. They missed you or something. I didn't care," Toph replied turning around so he couldn't see the happy smile on her red face.

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><p>"Ooh that reminds me! Toph I thought you might like this, since you've probably never had a chance to bend space earth before," Sokka said, handing over a small lump of the meteor.<p>

"Sweet!" Toph exclaimed, unable to keep the smile off her face as she bent it into several different shapes.

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><p>Later that night, after playing with her piece of space earth for nearly an hour, she finally decided to make it a bracelet and slid it on her arm.<p>

"That's nice," Aang observed from beside her.

"I guess," Toph shrugged, keeping her voice low as to not wake the other two.

"So, how long have you liked him?" Aang asked out of nowhere.

Toph's eyes widened as she felt her face heat up.

"W-What are you talking about Twinkletoes?" she stammered, trying to keep her usual tough tone, but failing miserably.

"I'm talking about how you like Sokka," Aang whispered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Toph snapped, thanking the spirits that he couldn't pick up on lies yet.

"I don't have to have a built in lie detector to know that's a lie. I've been watching you two for a while now. I've seen how you always grab onto his arm when you can't see. I've seen how you light up around him, and how happy you were when he gave you that bracelet. It's pretty obvious Toph," Aang shrugged.

"Obvious like your crush on Katara?" Toph fired back.

"You uh, know about that?" Aang squeaked in embarrassment.

"Everyone knows about it. Except maybe her. I guess we're lucky that we picked the most clueless people on earth to have crushes on," she sighed.

"Aha! So you admit it!"

"Did I really need to?"

"No, but it's good that you did."

"I guess it's okay to talk to you about it. You're pretty much in the same place as me," she mumbled.

"Yeah."

"I'm pretty sure she likes you too," Toph finally said.

"What? Really?" Aang questioned eagerly.

"Yeah. I've felt the way her heart beats respond to you, and I gotta say, it's not really a normal reaction."

"Huh. Well, I can't pick up Sokka's heartbeat quite yet, but if it's any consolation, I think he might like you too," Aang said, offering her a useless smile.

"Thanks for trying Twinkletoes, but I think we both know that the chances of that happening are slim to none. I've accepted it though."

Aang could do nothing but smile at her sadly. She really couldn't tell just how much Sokka cared about her. After all, he brought her back something, not anyone else. He let her hang onto his arm when she was truly blind, he loosed up a little more whenever they were together. Aang was no love expert or anything, but if he had a say so, he'd say that there was something there. He knew better than to argue with Toph though, so he let it go.

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><p>There was something that had been bothering Katara ever since she heard Toph and her brother talking earlier. Why did Toph open up so easily to him? How could Sokka, of all people, get someone as stubborn as Toph to apologize? She was almost positive that he was also behind what got Toph to confess all she did when they were trapped in that crate.<p>

She knew that they were best friends, and that they were a lot alike, but still, people as stubborn as Toph don't break that easily. She should know since Sokka was equally as stubborn and she'd lived with him her whole life. No, there had to be something else.

She started thinking back to when Toph first joined their group. Come to think of it, Toph had always been a little more easy going around Sokka. She still bullied him viciously and would blow up in a second if he pissed her off, but she was just a little more relaxed around him...almost as if...

Katara's eyes widened at the sudden realization. It had been so obvious! Toph clearly had a crush on him. She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. She thought it was cute that Toph liked her brother. To be honest, the more Katara thought about it, the cuter it was.

There she made a vow to herself to get closer to Toph and to keep her secret, knowing that Toph would tell her when she wanted. She also wanted to keep a close eye on Sokka to make sure he didn't do something stupid and accidentally hurt her.

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><p><strong>Fire Nation, a week before Sozin's Comet<strong>

"Ow! Toph!" Sokka wailed, clutching his throbbing arm dramatically.

Toph only grinned lazily at nothing before walking away with a slight skip to her step. Zuko just looked at the scene with amusement. He knew what Toph meant by it. She was just showing Sokka her affection...again. It hadn't taken Zuko long to figure out about how she felt towards the older boy.

The longer he was with the group, the closer he got to them. Even Katara had finally decided to bury the hatchet and accept him as a friend. Yet, there was one in particular he felt particularly close to. Toph was the sister he never got to have. After they bonded back at the theater, they became rather close. Since he regarded Toph as his younger sister, he watched over her with brotherly protectiveness. Once he saw how close she was to Sokka, he decided to keep an eye on them. It wasn't that he didn't trust Sokka to do something intentionally, but the boy was kind of clueless. If he hurt her, it wouldn't be on purpose, but it would still make its mark. That's what Zuko wanted to prevent.

He noticed how when Suki was around, Toph was unusually quite. Of course, she'd say the occasional sarcastic quip or boast about herself so as to not raise suspension. Zuko noticed though, and was rather disappointed to see that Sokka—who knew her better than anyone—didn't. He couldn't exactly be upset with him though. He imagined that if he were in Sokka's shoes and if Suki were Mai, he'd be distracted as well. Of course, he was secretly glad he broke up whatever was going to happen in Sokka's tent that one night and later he did casually bring up something about their vibration feeling friend. It was rather satisfying to see his face heat up in mortification.

Still he could understand how Sokka probably didn't see Toph in that way consciously, Zuko did believe that there was something there. It just wasn't possible for them to be as close as they were without there being some sort of something. They were best friends yes, but it seemed to go deeper than that. Still, Zuko said nothing to either of them.

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><p>Toph sighed to herself as tried to block out the happy couple a few feet away from her. It wasn't that she upset that Suki was back. Toph really was glad that she was okay and she and Suki had already had another heart to heart and Toph gave her the go ahead. It was just that sometimes, just feeling them together was a bit overwhelming. She knew Suki tried to tone it down for her sake, but Sokka didn't quite get the memo.<p>

"Toph do you want to go for a walk with me?" Zuko suddenly asked from his spot beside her.

"Sure," she replied, trying not to show the relief she felt.

They had been walking for a while in comfortable silence. This was what she liked about Zuko. When he could tell something was wrong, he didn't press like Aang or Katara would. He just stayed quiet.

"So..." perhaps she spoke too soon.

"Let me guess, you want to talk to me about my crush on Sokka?" Toph interrupted, already knowing where he was going.

"Actually I was going to say how nice it feels out, but thanks for admitting to what I already suspected," Zuko said smugly, a tone he usually only used around her.

"Damn it," Toph muttered.

"Come on, tell me what's bothering you," his voice took on a more brotherly tone, "I can beat him up if you want."

"I appreciate the offer, but we both know I could handle that just fine on my own," Toph snickered.

"I know. Seriously though, if you want to talk about it, I'm all ears."

"I'm not sad or mad that he rescued Suki and brought her back here. Actually Suki and I talked about this forever ago, before she got captured. She offered to back off, and I told her to go for it because I knew there was no hope.

"I just get sad sometimes because he's my best friend and I know he won't ever feel anything more for me. Even if it's years from now, and Suki is out of the picture, I'll still just be his buddy. I've learned to accept it though," Toph shrugged as if none of what she said was a big deal.

"Toph, don't say that," Zuko said looking down at her forced smile.

"Why not? We both know it's true."

"Listen, I'm going to tell you something and I want you to listen carefully. Right now, I don't think it's possible for you and Sokka to be together for obvious reasons. Now, if in the future, something were to happen like you said, I think there's a good chance that it could happen."

"You're just trying to make me feel better," she sighed.

"I'm not finished. Sokka cares about you deeply. Whether he's conscious of it or not is his problem. Now let me explain to you how I know. Remember when I burned your feet on accident? Who was the one who insisted on carrying you everywhere? Even when someone else offered?"

"Sokka..."

"Now why do you think he'd do that Toph?"

"I don't know..."

"He does a lot of things like that when you're concerned. In fact, later that day, after I joined your group he threatened me."

"Snoozles threatened you?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah. You know Sokka and Katara can be really scary when they want to be. She threatened me just a little bit later. Only her threat was about Aang."

"Isn't that a shock. So what did he say?"

"He told me that if I ever hurt you again, accident or otherwise, he'd make sure that I felt pain ten times as worse."

"Wow. He said that?" Zuko noticed the light pink tent in her cheeks.

"Yep. I believed every word of it too."

"Thanks Zuko," she finally said, punching him lightly on the arm.

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><p><strong>Early Republic City, three years after Sozin's Comet<strong>

"Toph, are you okay? You seem off," Katara asked, before taking another sip of tea.

"Huh? I'm fine... I've just had a lot on my mind recently," Toph mumbled, looking away.

"Well, you know you can tell me if something's bothering you. I may be pregnant, but I might be able to help," Katara said warmly.

Toph was silent as they sat on the patio of Aang and Katara's new home. She bit her lip, knowing that if there was ever a time to go to Katara for advice that it would be now. Zuko was busy in the fire nation, getting things ready for the annual ball that was held in honor of the end of the 100 Year War. Aang was busy trying to raise Republic City to its feet. Sokka, well, that's what her problem was about. Just recently, he'd come to her apartment in the city and told her about how he and Suki had broken up. She'd been there for him, as a best friend should, even though he wasn't exactly as devastated as she thought he would be. She couldn't get him to tell her the details of the break up, but she could tell he was sincere when he told her he was fine.

Her problem had more to do with her rising feelings and a brief memory of a conversation she'd had with Zuko three years before. It had been eating her up inside. Now was her chance, and it was perhaps the only chance she'd get to tell him. She'd tried many times, but she just couldn't get the words out. Toph hated it. Expressing her emotions, specifically that type of emotion, wasn't something she was comfortable with, or good at for that matter. So, Katara was the one she decided to turn to for help.

"I have to tell you something," Toph sighed, feeling her face heat up.

"Is it about your crush on Sokka?" Katara asked.

"How did you know? Did Aang tell you?" Toph demanded, anger filling up inside her.

"No one told me. I figured it out on my own... Wait a minute! You told _Aang_ before you told me?"

"Not voluntarily. You're the first person I've actually told completely on my own," Toph said with an embarrassed snort.

"Who else knows?" Katara asked raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"Zuko and Suki."

"Suki knew?"

"She was the first to know."

"Huh. Well, I'm guessing that your problem has something to do with their break up?'

"Yeah. Did he tell you what happened?"

"No. All I could get out of him was that they were both fine and were remaining friends," Katara replied whimsically, wishing she could know the full story.

"That's all he told me too," Toph murmured.

"Okay, so what's wrong? What's keeping you from telling him?"

"I'm afraid of what he'd say and do," Toph bowed her head in shame.

"Toph you aren't a little girl anymore. You should see the way he looks at you. I don't think you have anything to worry about," Katara assured her.

"That's what everyone else told me. Even Suki told me she thought there was something or there could be something when she first found out. She even offered to back off," Toph gave a dry laugh.

"I don't think you're afraid of telling him. At least not anymore. I can see why you would be afraid of that when you were younger, but now it's something else. I think you're afraid that something might go wrong and ruin what you already have," Katara finally stated.

"I think you may be right. I mean, we all thought he and Suki would get married and live happily ever after, but look what happened. They broke up."

"But, they're staying friends," Katara reminded her.

"Yeah, but it would be too weird for us. We tell each other everything. He's told me things he hasn't told anyone else, even Suki. If we were to loose what we already have, I'd never forgive myself," Toph mumbled sadly.

"Toph, nothing will ever change the friendship you have. Friendship means everything to him. He wouldn't let a silly break up come between you."

"I guess..."

"Great. Now when are you going to tell him?"

"I—what?"

"I think it should be at the ball. That gives us a week to prepare," Katara said cheerfully.

"Huh?"

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><p><strong>Alright, so if you paid attention to the first note at the top this is where some possible questions might possibly be answered. First off, I know the first thing you're probably thinking is that Toph is OOC, and while she may seem that way please rethink it. As Katara so helpfully pointed out in "The Runaway" episode, Toph basically hides her more vulnerable feelings behind her tough exterior. So while she may be fine on the outside, the inside might be a completely different story. Plus she's had her fair share of more tender moments on the show anyway. <strong>

**Next is Suki. I actually don't have a problem with Suki or Yue. I'm actually okay with Sokka being with either one. I'd much rather him end up with Toph, but I think Suki and Yue are fine too. I don't like when people bash Suki because her character isn't all that bad in my opinion. Some may think differently, but what can you do? I also don't think that Toph hated Suki either. She never showed any open hostility towards her on the show and while she may have just kept it locked up, knowing Toph and her short temper, it's unlikely. **

**I think Aang and Zuko would be the brothers she never had. Aang would be the one she could go out and have a bunch of fun with, but still talk to about serious things. Zuko would be the over protective older brother that she would also talk to. **

**So, that's all I can really think of. My timeline might be a little off. I did the best estimating I could. Don't forget to let me know what you guys think! Thanks for reading.**


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